


What's in a Name?

by flashwitch



Category: White Collar
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Names, Peter worries too much and overthinks everything., great expectations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-22
Updated: 2012-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-31 14:23:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flashwitch/pseuds/flashwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter finds out Mozzie's changed his pseudonym of choice from Havisham to Magwitch and it makes him think there's some deeper meaning behind the Great Expectations references. It would help to know the story of Great Expectations, but it's not essential.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name?

Peter was sitting on the couch, a battered copy of _Great Expectations_ between his hands.

Havisham. Magwitch.

 It hadn’t occurred to him to look Mozzie’s pseudonyms up before. Well apart from in the criminal database. But when Neal had said that Mozzie had changed his nom de guerre to Magwich, something had tickled at the back of his brain.

In _Great Expectations_ Miss Havisham was the crazy old lady, everyone knew that. But what Peter hadn’t known was that she was the one to take young Pip under her wing. She was the one to treat the orphan boy like a son. The one to inspire him to greatness. Great, right? And Peter could guess why Mozzie would like that association. But as he’d read on it had become clear that Havisham was only using Pip for her own ends.

Abel Magwitch on the other hand...

He gives Pip everything. A lot of money, people to help him, and expectations of being a gentleman.  Was the change of name Mozzie’s way of saying that he was looking out for Neal now, rather than himself? Peter frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked that. He wasn’t sure he liked Neal, who always put others first, being compared to the selfish and sometimes idiotic Pip.

Even more, he didn’t like the idea that Mozzie had been using Neal this whole time. That he’d been rubbing Neal’s face in it by choosing that name.

Did Neal realise what Mozzie was saying by becoming Magwitch?

Peter thumbed the well worn pages, and then jumped as a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

“Hun, I didn’t think you were a fan of Dickens!” El smiled, and sat beside him.

“I’m not, you know that. He drags things out too long.” She looked pointedly at the book he was holding. “It’s... Do you think Mozzie was just using Neal for his own purposes this whole time?”

Her eyes widened slightly.

“Excuse me?”

“The name he gave when we were introduced, it was Havisham. After the mess with the treasure, when he came back... he called himself Magwitch.”

Her head tilted as she thought through the implications.

“And you think he’s decided to be a proper mentor to Neal now?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to think. I just think that it’s worrying that he thought of himself as Havisham.”

“I see your point. How long have they known each other, anyway?”

“Neal told me he was eighteen when he met Moz, but I’m not sure. We don’t have any official age or date of birth on record. He beat Mozzie at ‘Find the Queen’, and Mozzie took him in and trained him to be a thief.”

“And you think he was just using Neal for the money?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I just... Neal was so young, and he has so much potential...”

“You have great expectations for him.”

“Yeah, I... I see what you did there.”

“Uh huh.” She grinned. “You do realise that if Neal’s Pip and Mozzie’s Havisham, that probably makes you Herbert.”

He laughed at that, which is what she’d been aiming for. He kissed her, and then stood, catching her hand and tugging gently.

“Come on. It’s too late for a philosophical debate.” 

They went upstairs and didn’t sleep.

The next morning, Peter saw the book lying discarded on the coffee table and wondered.

* * *

“How do you choose your aliases?”

“Peter? What time is it?” Neal scrubbed a hand across his eyes, looked at the clock and then let his head flop back onto his pillow.

“Neal?”

“What’s going on Peter? It’s either too late or too early.”

“How do you choose your aliases?”

“What? Is this for a case.”

Peter didn’t say anything. After a moment, Neal sighed again.

“Peter, I’m tired. Can this wait?”

“Is Neal Caffrey even your real name? We have nothing on you before you turned eighteen.”

“Does it matter? I’m Neal Caffrey now.”

“Yes. It does matter.”

“Why?”

“Exactly.”

“Are you drunk?” Neal sat up, suddenly worried. “Peter?”

“Nah. I’ve just had a couple.”

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah. So, how do you choose your names?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because. I want to know why. And if you know why Mozzie chooses his.”

“Mozzie? He chooses his names from classical stuff, he likes to make his names relevant to whatever he’s doing. It makes him feel smart.”

“So his choices are relevant. There is meaning in them.”

“Peter, it’s four in the morning. I didn’t get to sleep till two. What is going on?”

Peter took a long swallow from his beer.

“Mozzie’s new name is Magwitch.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Do you know why?”

“I don’t bother trying to figure out his reasoning. Not since he called himself Mr Baggins on that ring job.”

“Ring job?”

“Alleged ring job.”

Peter laughed a little huff of sound.

“So your name. Why?”

Neal considered.

“Caffrey’s my mother’s maiden name.”

“And Neal?”

There was a long pause. Long enough that Peter wondered if Neal was just going to hang up.

“It’s my real first name. When I chose Caffrey, I knew it could be forever.” It was simply said. It took Peter a moment to realise the implications.

“Neal....”

“Hmmm?”

“That’s...”

It was enough information to track down Neal’s true identity.

“I know. I trust you, Peter. Now, can I go back to sleep?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“That’s okay. Am I still invited for dinner tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“G’night Peter.”

“Night, Neal.”

They hung up together.

* * *

 It didn't come up again for a few days, but Peter kept on thinking, kept on wondering, kept worrying. And everyone could tell. Especially Mozzie. He wasn't impressed. 

Mrs Suit had invited them to dinner. Mozzie had been looking forward to seeing her.

The Suit was staring. Mozzie didn’t like it.

“What’s going on?” he asked Neal.

“What?”

“Your Suit won’t stop staring at me. Is he going to arrest me? What does he think I did? Is it something that I actually did?”

“Moz, calm down. I don’t know what’s up with Peter. He’s been weird for a few days now.”

Peter kept staring.

It took three hours for Mozzie to get annoyed enough to corner Peter in the kitchen.

“Okay, Suit. What’s going on? Why have you been staring at me all night?”

“Havisham.”

“What?”

“Magwitch.”

“Okay, name’s I’ve used...” Mozzie spread his hands and shook his head slightly.

“Is Neal Pip?” The tone told Mozzie that this question was important, and after a moment he got it. He realised what the suit must think.

“No. Well, yes. _Now_ he is, but he wasn’t. Not to begin with. He was Estella.”

That gave Peter pause. He opened his mouth to say... he didn’t know what.

“You realise how this makes you look.”

“I know. I was a... I’ve never hid the sort of person I am. I’m trying though.”

“Yeah. I guess you are.” Peter turned away to start the washing up. “I’m not Herbert though.”

“Of course you’re not. You’re Joe.”

Mozzie left the kitchen as Peter spluttered and tried to figure out if that was a compliment or not.


End file.
